Big Idea:
Students work in cooperative groups to create stem-and-leaf plots and line plots

Students enter silently according to the daily entrance routine . As students continue to struggle solving word problems about circles, circumference, and area, I included two word problems for the do now. Students are encouraged to draw a picture as they sit down to work. They are also provided with calculators. After being given 5 minutes to work, I take the opportunity to review how to use the pi button should a question not specify what to use for pi. In some instances, students may need to calculate the closest approximation and use the pi functions in their calculators.

I ask students to make sure others are calculating accurately as we check the answers given in the Do Now. Students who were not able to finish the assignment in the first five minutes must copy the work being calculated on their papers.

If there is enough time left, I ask students a third question, similar to one of the two above, but change the numbers. They calculate their answers using calculators and also multiply by 3.14. We can discuss accuracy in approximations by comparing the two values.

Resources

Students are asked to turn in their homework to a basket in the back of the room. While they are doing this I place worksheets on their desks. When they return to their seat, they are asked to put their eyes on the board. Students will practice saying what they need help doing and get paired with a teammate to help them. This teammate must be able to prove they can help by stating the correct answer to the fill in the blank statement in the powerpoint. The slides include questions about the classwork sheet I handed out. Those able to identify the correct information in each problem, will prove that they will be able to help the students asking for help. This is a great exercise to get students discussion the topics and skills they are struggling with. Slide 6 in the power point includes the question and answer stems students may use to help guide them. Slide 7 includes the group work expectations.

Students will be assigned to booths as they participate to state what they are struggling with and how someone else can help. This is the reward for being the brave first. The rest of the students will be paired up and allowed to work anywhere else where there is available space in the room. I make sure they understand they are not to join other groups.

A 10 minute timer is set at the front of the room. At the end of 10 minutes students are asked to return to their seats and we review the answers. Students are allowed to use calculators for this entire lesson.

Resources

After reviewing the answers to the group work assignment, students are given an independent practice sheet. They are asked to choose the type of plot they would like to complete in the next 15 minutes. The other is to be taken home for homework. Students may work on both if they have time to do so. The 15 minute timer is set and students are asked to work silently. During this time I am walking around to identify students excelling in this topic. These students will help to explain the topics to students in the last 5 minutes of class, thus increasing the amount of help that can be given to different students.

After 15 minutes, the timer is stopped and I remind students to complete the entire sheet for homework. This worksheet will be graded. Those students flagged for excelling in these topics will be asked to lead small group review sessions for these last five minutes, answering any questions their small groups of students will have. At the end of 5 minutes, these groups will remain together, and the students leaders will become coaches in completing the exit ticket.

Resources

Student leaders identified in the previous section will be given a coaching sheet including space for the names of the students they are coaching. Spaces included will ask coaches to answer questions about topics such as:

comparing data on line plots

identifying appropriate populations.

Identifying student leaders this way allows me to collect more information and maximize the talent in my class.

Big Idea:
What do the median, mode, and range tell us about a set of data? Students review median, mode, and range as well as collect and display their own data using line plots, histograms, and stem-and-leaf plots.